>
> Within the context of the story, the only "big,
>glaring loophole" -- that I can see -- is that
>*all* the systems that the Envoys visit had rocky
>moons in the first place.

Without spoiling the story for everyone else, I'd just like to point out that the way in which the statues get made is never really gone into in any detail, so to say that they are "carved" isn't really accurate. I think I could just as easily had a Europa-type ice moon be one of the statues and not lose anything. The fact that I didn't do that is merely my own lack of creativity. :-)

Also, there are plenty of "rocky" bodies in our solar system--The first four planets, Earth's moon, Mars' two moons, the Jovian sattelites, Saturn's 24 moons, Pluto-Charon (probably), and at least one each (that I can recall) of Uranus' and Neptune's moons--I don't think it's too much of a leap to figure that every system that might have a habitable planet would also have some sort of large, rocky body. Besides that, I never really say what *all* of the statues are made of.

Also also, this isn't the flaw I was thinking of, and I'm not convinced that this *is* a flaw in itself, so everyone better keep looking :-)